


you'll never see the end of the road (while you're travelling with me)

by Eirwyn



Series: Sky Pirate AU [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternative Universe - Sky Pirate, Angst with a Happy Ending, Multi, and all of the warnings that accompany them, mentions of the Briarwoods and Anna Ripley
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-24
Updated: 2016-11-24
Packaged: 2018-09-01 22:39:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8640898
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eirwyn/pseuds/Eirwyn
Summary: After a few minutes, Scanlan wandered over and said casually. “Oh there you are. What are you doing here? Honestly, we leave you two crazy kids alone for two minutes, and you get yourselves arrested. Lucky we’re around.”   “Who’s we?”  “Hey, Kiki.”   Keyleth grinned. “Vax!”  Vax smiled at them both as he knelt down in front of Keyleth’s cell to get at the lock. He carefully began to pick it as he said. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this, Kiki. How do you always end up in prison?”  “I’m very earnest.”  “And prone to following idiots with half thought out plans.” Vax added, nodding towards Percy, as the lock clicked and the padlock fell open with a thunk.  It's a funny story, how Percy and Keyleth ended up in an Emon prison charged with piracy and theft. No, really, it is. You should hear it.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Oh my god, this month has kicked my ass, but finally I can show you what I've been working on the Critrole Reverse Bang! This one is my long, wordy, AU fic, inspired by some wonderful artwork by an artist called Rowan (link to her tumblr is [here](http://rowanfalls.tumblr.com/) ). 
> 
> If you are a very big kind of nerd, you can see that I was _heavily_ inspired by Firefly. C'mon, sky pirates!! What else was I going to do?? In fact, I spent so much time working out all the various headcanons needed to write this that I will probably end up writing more. Why can't I ever write short fic??

Percy sat down heavily on the shelf of wood that served as both bed and chair in the jail cell, finally sick of pacing out the same five paces back and forth. As he sat down with an audible thud, Keyleth called out. “Percy, are you alright?”

“Fine,” he called back. “Sat down harder than I meant to.”

There was a pause, before the sound of giggling reached his ears, and Percy smiled to himself. It was worth it if he could make Keyleth laugh, because he had the feeling he wouldn’t be laughing for a little while. Pike would come for Keyleth, of course she would, Keyleth was part of her crew. Percy was just an interloper who had forced his place aboard using his skills as a bargaining chip.

Still, it couldn’t be fun for Keyleth, locked up in a jail cell, cut off from all her magic.

“I’m sorry, Keyleth.” Percy said, hoping she could hear in his tone exactly how sorry he was. “This is all my fault. You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.”

“That’s true.” Keyleth replied, and Percy was suddenly pleased she couldn’t see him for how violently he flinched. “It’s also true that I could be arrested for being a pirate at any point. Is that Pike’s fault?”

“No, but….”

“Well then,” Keyleth interrupted. “If it's not Pike’s fault, then it's not your fault either. I'm here because I want to be.”

There was silence for a bit, before Percy said quietly. “I’m still sorry. We would never have been on that ship if it wasn’t for me.”

Keyleth sighed. “The job went wrong, yes, but that was beyond either of our controls. Percy, it’s fine. I know you have bad memories of being locked up, but we’re going to be okay. There’s no way Pike will leave us here.”

“I know.” Percy replied, not wanting to talk about his own private worries about what Pike would do about them being in jail.

“Hey,” Keyleth said, clearly trying to keep up his spirits. “Do you remember when you came aboard?”

“Yeah,” Percy smiled reluctantly. “I remember. I was so scared about what I was doing. I dread to think about what would have happened had I ended up on a different ship.”

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Almost immediately after they had landed in Vasselheim, Pike had to stop them all from bolting down the gangplank and disappearing. They all loved the ship, to varying degrees, but even the most devoted of them were more than ready to have a city to run wild in, rather than the admittedly cramped confines of an airship.

She did this by simply standing in front of the gangplank and trusted that none of them would have the guts to try and get past her. She was right. Pike may have been the smallest of them, but she could be very intimidating, and more than that, she was the Captain. That was something even the twins, with their marked problems with authority, respected.

“Right!” Pike shouted, ensuring none of them could pretend they didn't hear. “Before you get to play, there are some things that need to be done. Grog and I are going to meet with this agent of the Slayer’s Take who wants to do a deal. Given his letter, however, I need a pilot on board and ready to fly at all times, so. Vax, Vex, sort it out amongst yourselves however you want, but to repeat: _there is a pilot aboard my ship at all times._ ”

The twins nodded and then immediately started arguing amongst themselves. Keyleth wondered how long it would be before one of them suggested RoShamBo and then how long they would be stuck doing that until one of them finally threw something different.

Pike continued. “Whichever one of you doesn't stay behind has to go and replenish our supplies. Trustworthy vendors only, we don't need a repeat of the dog incident.”

Everyone except Grog winced, various expressions of disgust on their faces. Whilst that hadn't been the lowest moment on that particular voyage, it certainly came close.

“Keyleth.” Pike said, and Keyleth looked back over to Pike. “If this deal comes off, we’re going to need some respectability, and if it doesn't, we're going to need money, so I need to you to find some passengers. Anyone who can pay and who wants passage to Emon.”

“We’re heading to Emon?” Vax perked up, distracted from the argument for a second, which Vex took as a surrender and took the pouch of money from Pike. 

As Vax started to curse in Elvish, Pike replied. “Yeah, Emon, but no telling Gilmore. It's a smuggling run, for Sarenrae’s sake.”

“Shaun wouldn't sell us out!”

“Not deliberately, but letters can be lost or intercepted. No writing to Gilmore, Vax, I mean it.”

‘I mean it’ was how Pike said ‘that’s an order’ and it went down much better with a group of people who had problems with taking orders. It was the reason most of them were on the ship in the first place, a refusal to conform with what their lives were meant to have been. It made Keyleth feel a little bit like a fraud sometimes, given that she was on the ship to fulfill what was expected of her, instead of rebel against it. 

Pike turned and walked off the ship, followed by Grog and then by Vex, who waved cheerfully and called out. “See you later, brother! I’ll buy you a present!”

Vax gave her the finger over his shoulder as he sulked back over to the hatch that led to the pilot’s wheel and climbed down. Keyleth wandered after him, heading to her room to get her chair and carrying it back outside, setting it down right next to the gangplank and walking over to the notice board to put the ship’s name and its destination on it. It was the first port of call for anyone looking for transportation. Emon was a relatively popular destination, so Keyleth was quietly confident in finding some passengers.

She walked back over to her chair, settled into it and relaxed. Vasselheim was full of interesting characters and it would be a fun way to pass the time while she waited to see if there would be any interest. Normally Keyleth would keep herself amused with silly little druidic cantrips, but Vasselheim was a little funny about magic and Keyleth really didn’t want to get arrested. Again.

It was a little over an hour later, Keyleth guessed, when the first serious interest was shown. Walking past the ship was a male gnome, dressed in vibrant purples and with various musical instruments obvious about his person. By comparison, his pack was rather light and it seemed an odd priority. As this gnome walked past, he paused, squinted and asked. “ _Little Sunbird_? Why is your ship called that?”

Keyleth smiled. “She isn’t my ship, and she was named by Captain Pike, who is a worshipper of Sarenrae, hence _Sunbird_ and a gnome, hence… _Little_ , I suppose. Also, she isn’t a very big ship, but she flies as if she were created in the sky.”

The gnome laughed. “Very pretty. Who taught you the last bit?”

Keyleth blushed a bit. “One of our pilots. She said it sounded poetic and I should use it on potential passengers.”

The gnome laughed again and held out his hand as he introduced himself. “Scanlan Shorthalt, bard and ladies man extraordinaire.”

Keyleth shook his hand. “Keyleth, full time passenger and part time medic.”

Scanlan frowned at her. “Full time passenger?”

Keyleth shrugged. “I initially paid for passage, and then I realised it would be easier to stay with them, as they go all sorts of places. So I no longer pay a passenger fee, but I’m also not really part of the crew. I just patch them up.”

“Fair enough,” Scanlan replied. “Well, Emon’s better for bards than Vasselheim, and I’ve been looking for a new place to visit. How much are you asking?”

“200 gold, non-negotiable.”

Scanlan winced theatrically. “Cash only?”

“No, we’re not fussy. We’d prefer some hard gold, but it doesn’t all have to be.”

Scanlan nodded. “Okay then. Are you leaving imminently, or do I have time to say goodbye to the city?”

Keyleth frowned, not really understanding why that question was followed by a lascivious wink, but nodded and replied. “Uh, no, you have time. When you hear the fourth bell after noon, make your way here. We’ll wait until the fifth bell.” 

After Scanlan had left, Keyleth settled back down in her chair and considered that having Scanlan on board could certainly be interesting. It sounded like he would get along with Grog, and if he got on with Grog then Pike would love him regardless of how weird he might be. He was a bard, after all. Bards were always a little strange.

Again, it was about another hour before Keyleth had another customer approach her, and he was almost the exact opposite to Scanlan. He was a human male, tall and young-looking, despite his white hair and glasses. He also carried himself as if he were somebody important and when he spoke to Keyleth, his voice did nothing to change that impression, coming across as very refined and cultured.

“This is the ship heading to Emon?”

“Yes, um…?”

“Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski De Rolo the Third. And you?”

Keyleth’s eyes widened and she stammered out. “K, k, Keyleth.”

“Keyleth, nice to meet you. You leave today, correct?”

Keyleth nodded. “Yes, in a few hours, once the Captain’s concluded business. You need to get to Emon quickly?”

The face, which had so far been pleasant but distant, shuttered immediately, and the voice went cold as Percival replied. “I need to get to Emon, and I don’t need questions about it.”

Keyleth drew back a little and looked away, catching out of the corner of her eye Vex coming back carrying a couple of bags, and followed by a young man carrying a few boxes. As Vex walked up behind Keyleth and gracefully along the gangplank, motioning for the young man to wait, Keyleth said. “Okay. If you make your way back here after the fourth bell, we’ll help with any luggage. It’s 200 gold for passage.”

“That’s fine,” Percival replied, his tone hardly softened at all. “I’ll see you and your captain then.”

He turned on his heel and walked away, his well dressed figure standing out in a crowd of sailors and traders even as he got so far away Keyleth could barely see him. As Vex came back out to take the boxes off the young man who had escorted her, and give him a couple of gold, she asked. “Who was that?”

“A passenger.” Keyleth replied, still looking over to where Percival had disappeared into the crowd. “He was weird.”

Vex shrugged. “Looked like he had too much money to be in these parts, but if he wants to give us some of that money, I’m not going to complain. Are Pike and Grog back yet?”

Keyleth shook her head. “No, not yet, but go and relieve your brother, please? I’m pretty sure he’s been sulking the entire time you’ve been gone.”

Vex sighed. “I was going to take Trinket for a walk.”

“Get Vax to do it. He loves Trinket, Trinket loves him, it’ll be fine.”

Vex rolled her eyes. “Fine.”

Keyleth settled back into her chair, but was only there for another half an hour before Grog and Pike returned, Grog carrying two huge crates that only he could really carry, and Pike with a bag slung over her shoulder. As they moved into the ship, Pike called. “Come inside, Keyleth. That’s enough passenger hunting for today, we need to have a ship’s meeting.”

Keyleth came into the kitchen area, where all the others were, Pike clearly having managed to catch Vax before he left the ship, and they all arranged themselves at the big kitchen table where they had their meals. The crates and bag were piled in one corner.

Pike paused for a second, before smiling and saying. “We’ve got the goods. We’re taking them to Emon to pass on to the fence this guy knows. We’re splitting it fifty-fifty, after a… uh, intense persuasion session on Grog’s part, and that fifty is going six ways. It should still be a good bit of money, even after all that. Speaking of which, Keyleth, tell us how the passenger search went.”

“All right,” Keyleth complied easily. “We have two. One’s a gnome, a bard by his own telling and a bit of a wanderer by my own judgement. The other one’s a human, and, well, Vex caught sight of him a bit.”

“I did.” Vex chimed in. “He was cute, but a bit… posh. Nobility, definitely, and he snapped at Keyleth, so I already don’t like him.”

Vax looked up from where he was fiddling with one of his many daggers at that sentence and asked. “He snapped at you, Kiki?”

“Well,” Keyleth hesitated, not wanting to speak badly about someone who she had just met and barely knew, but also not wanting to lie, and the truth was that. “Yeah, he did. A bit, and I _did_ pry first.”

A _hmmm_ was all she got in response, but she didn’t miss the significant look passed between the twins. Percival De Rolo III was not going to have a particularly comfortable trip to Emon if the twins had anything to say about it. They were quite protective of Keyleth, as all three of them were half-elves. Keyleth was the child of half-elves and so didn’t have the normal issues attached to being a half-breed, but the twins had a human mother and an elven father, and it had caused them all kinds of troubles (nonspecific troubles, the twins didn’t talk about their past in detail), so they looked out for their own kind. 

Well, in fairness, the crew all looked out for each other, but the twins got especially vindictive if someone upset or hurt Keyleth.

Some time later, the fourth bell rang as Keyleth stood back outside, waiting for their passengers, as she was both rather distinctive with her bright red hair, and also the only member of crew their passengers knew. Next to her was Pike, waiting ostensibly to greet them, but actually to take stock of them. Percival arrived first, carrying two relatively normal sized bags, the sort of thing Keyleth was used to seeing travellers carrying, but being carried behind him by two men was a large, ornate, wooden box, easily the same height as a gnome. Keyleth caught Pike’s raised eyebrow as she stepped forward and called. “Percival De Rolo?”

Percival walked over and nodded his head. “Keyleth, wasn’t it? I have the payment you require.”

He held out a small leather bag, which Keyleth took and without even looking inside it, handed it over to Pike as she said. “This is our Captain, Pike. Pike, this is Percival De Rolo.”

Pike held out her hand, which Percival shook as Pike said. “Welcome aboard. I’ll get Grog to move your box into our cargo area. Grog!”

Grog popped his head up. “Yeah, buddy?”

“Get that box into the cargo area, please.”

“And please be careful.” Percival added. “It’s very delicate.”

Grog hefted it into his arms and then up on one shoulder, gave Percival a challenging look and walked off. Pike grinned behind her hand, before saying. “Keyleth, would you mind showing Percival to his rooms? I’ll wait here for the other one. You said he was quite distinctive?”

Keyleth nodded and returned Pike’s grin. “He’s wearing bright purple and carrying more instruments than looks possible. Can’t miss him.”

Keyleth walked on board after Grog and Percival followed after her, carrying his bags. He didn’t get more than a few steps before he froze and whispered. “There’s a huge bear, right over there.”

Keyleth glanced over at him, amazed that he had somehow managed to get paler than he already was and briefly considered pretending to be scared, before explaining. “That’s Trinket.”

“It’s a _wild bear_ , on the _airship_!”

“He’s not _really_ wild. He’s sort of semi-wild. He’s been with Vex since he was a cub, and she’s very fond of him, so I wouldn’t say anything bad about him.”

Percival scrubbed a hand down his face and sighed. “This is going to be an interesting trip, isn’t it?”

****

It was three days into their journey to Emon that the trip did indeed get interesting. Scanlan fit in with the rest of the crew almost immediately, having the same sense of humour as Grog and apparently fell completely in love with Pike, who found his attentions hilarious. Vax also clearly became very fond of the audacious little bard, which meant that Vex had nothing bad to say about him and Keyleth herself, even if occasionally she found him a bit overwhelming, thought he was brilliant.

Percival, on the other hand….

He joined them for meals, and sometimes out on the deck when the weather was nice, but apart from that he kept to himself, either in his room, or checking on the large box he had brought aboard. Pike liked him because Percival stayed out of the way, but apart from that, the crew either had no opinion on him (Grog and Keyleth) or irrationally disliked him (Vax and Vex - as predicted the pranks had started almost immediately).

Keyleth was in the little medical area, half of which was given over to her growing medicinal herbs, seeing as there was nowhere else. Luckily, she very rarely needed to use the medical area for what it was originally designated for, as most of the surface area was covered with long, low troughs of earth, from which thousands of small green sprouts poked up from the brown soil. Keyleth was a good healer, but sometimes it was better to try and let things heal without magic, and her herbs helped her do that. More common herbs like basil, chamomile, rosemary and lavender grew alongside rarer herbs like marigold, feverfew and echinacea and they all needed watering and weeding. 

It was a relaxing occupation, and Keyleth could spend hours in her little garden, but it seemed that today was not going to be her day to do so, as she heard her name being called, the voice urgent.

She replied. “I’m in here!”

The footsteps gave away that it was Vax before the man himself put his head around the door and said. “Kiki, you need to come to the bridge, quickly!” 

He dashed off again before Keyleth could even begin to ask what was wrong, and so she just did as she was told and hurried to the bridge, hoping it wasn’t that anyone was hurt. When she got there, Vex was at the wheel, with Trinket asleep next to her feet. Pike was already there as well, and raised an eyebrow as Keyleth walked in, before asking. “Vax come and get you as well?”

“Yeah, what’s got into him?”

Pike shrugged. “No idea. Even Vex doesn’t know.”

“Hey,” Vex defended herself. “Just because we’re twins doesn’t mean I know about every crazy idea my brother’s ever come up with.”

“Yes you have.” Vax argued, as he dragged Grog in, which was a feat in and of itself and meant that Grog didn’t really mind about being there. “You’ve helped most of them.”

Vex opened her mouth to argue, and then realised she didn’t really have a defence and so changed the subject to ask. “What’s this all about, brother? You were running around like you’d seen a dragon.”

“I got a letter this morning….” Vax began, and Pike sighed and interrupted him. “Vax, I told you not to write to Gilmore!”

“I didn’t!” Vax protested. “I haven’t sent any letters. This one came out of the blue this morning, from one of my contacts in Vasselheim, and look what he sent!”

He thrust a piece of paper out for them all to see and Keyleth felt her heart seize up. It was a wanted poster, and the picture was alarmingly familiar. It was Percival, with his full name written down, accused of murder, arson, kidnapping and theft, along with several other lesser crimes. There was silence for a few minutes as they took it all in, before Grog said. “What does it say?”

“Percival’s a criminal.” Pike whispered, looking genuinely very shocked and upset. “Not our sort of criminal, but a kidnapper, an arsonist.”

“By the Gods.” Vex hissed. “Who have we let on this ship?”

Vax shook his head. “I don’t know, but we’re the ones harbouring him. We could go down for that - it’s why my contact sent me this. We’ve got to do something about him.”

“There’s a reward.” Vex mused. “Quite a sizeable one, put up by these people the Briarwoods….”

“We don’t need the law poking around this ship.” Grog argued. “No way. Just chuck him overboard, him and his stuff. He was never here.”

“We can’t kill him, Grog.” Pike replied. “If we kill Percival, it robs him of a chance to defend himself, and if he is this person, it lowers us to his level.”

“What are we going to do then, Pickle?” Vax asked, his face serious despite the silly nickname.

Silence fell again, as they all started to think. You could tell Grog had started to think because he had gone slightly cross-eyed. As the silence continued, Percival himself suddenly appeared in the doorway to the bridge, saying as he did so. “Sorry to interrupt, I know I’m not allowed up here, but I was wondering….” 

He trailed off, sensing the mood of the room and looked around. Vax moved to hide the poster, but all it did was draw Percival’s attention to it. His face went pale and milky, with just the slightest green tinge. He looked like a man who had just had the most severe shock of his life.

Pike stepped forward, trying to make the movement casual and non-threatening. “Percival….”

“It’s not true,” Percival gasped. “It's not.”

Keyleth also stepped forward, and that was apparently the breaking point. Percival backed away a couple of steps, before turning and running. Where he thought he was running too, Keyleth had no idea, given that there was nowhere to go but into thin air, but run he did, and then seconds apart, Pike yelled, “Grog, go after him!” and Vex put her fingers to her mouth to whistle for Trinket, high pitched and piercing, before they all ran after him.

Percival had actually got quite far, back down to the cargo area, before Trinket had got in front of him, growling scarily, and delayed him long enough for Grog to get behind him and sweep Percival up in a massive bear hug, pinning his arms to the side and picking him up off his feet. Percival instinctually squirmed, but soon gave up, his head hanging down.

As everyone else caught up, Pike walked over to the box that Percival had brought onto and slammed a fist down onto it. “You were running for this, there’s nothing else down here.”

“There’s plenty down here!” Percival countered, his voice desperate. “You think I don’t know what you’re up to. There’s no way you’re just running passengers, you’d never make any money. You’re smugglers!”

Pike’s face hardened. “Actually, we’re pirates, but if we’re talking about smugglers, I think it’s time I saw what you were smuggling on _my ship_.”

She signalled to Vax, who came over and crouched in front of the lock, inspecting it before using his lock-picking tools to get it open. Percival wriggled and protested, but Grog held him tightly. Vax and Pike took a hold of one side of the lid each and heaved. They paused and finally Pike said quietly. “What. The. Hell?”

Inside, the box was lined with dark blue velvet and lying in the box, curled up with her head on a pillow and her long dark hair covering her face, was a girl. A mostly naked, young girl. Even Grog had gone slack with shock, and Percival used that opportunity to get free and moved forward, saying. “Get away from her, leave her alone!”

Vax held a dagger up to Percival’s throat to stop him as Pike whispered. “Kidnapping. It was all true.”

“No, please! She’s ill, we were looking for a healer, and we needed to run, please, please….”

Percival’s voice sounded utterly frantic, a far cry from the polished and calm persona he had kept up the rest of the time he’d been on the ship. It was that sudden, drastic change in personality that made Keyleth step forward and say. “Pike, let me do a Restoration on her. If what Percival says is true, the girl can confirm it.”

Pike nodded, and stepped back so that Keyleth could reach into the box and lay her hand on the girl’s bare arm, sending waves of healing magic into her. She could sense from her short connection that there was indeed something wrong with this girl - her whole body seemed to be different, weaker somehow, and Keyleth could see recently healed scars all over her body. This girl had been through _something_ , certainly, but now it was now a question of whether it was Percival who had put her through it, or someone else.

Keyleth pulled away and stepped back, glancing over at Percival who had an expression of such intermingling hope and fear that Keyleth became more and more inclined to trust her instinct that said Percival wasn’t the awful person he had been made out to be by that wanted poster. A few minutes passed with no movement, and Keyleth watched Percival’s face grow more and more shuttered. She was so focused on him that when suddenly the girl sat up with a scream, Keyleth nearly jumped out of her skin.

The girl scrambled out of the box, still screaming and crumpled on the floor, the wordless screams turning into a word, repeated over and over again. “Percy! Percy!”

Percival dodged around Vax’s dagger, clearly with absolutely no regard for his own safety and knelt down in front of her, reaching for her with shaking hands as he said. “I’m here, it’s okay, I’m here, I’m here, Cass.”

The girl had stopped screaming, looking at Percival with wide, terrified eyes. “Percy?” He nodded, and her face crumpled. “Percy, Percy, they’re going to find me, they’re looking for me, they’re going to make me one of them! I can feel them - I can feel them!”

Percival hugged her closer. “No, no, we’re safe now. They can’t find you, I promise. They’ll never have us again.”

Pike voiced what Keyleth was sure was going through all of their minds right now. “What’s going on here?”

Percival looked up at her, not moving from where he was holding the girl on the floor and replied. “This is my sister.”

****

Fifteen minutes later, after Percival’s sister had been wrapped in a blanket and been put to rest in Percival’s room, Percival stood in front of the entire crew and Scanlan as they sat around the large dining table in the kitchen area and waited for him to explain.

Keyleth watched as Percival clasped his hands together and began to speak, his voice low and even. “My name is Percival Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III. My little sister is Cassandra Johanna Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo, and as you can see, my family is slightly more original with girls’ names.” He smiled a little, but when nobody returned it, Percival coughed a little and continued.

“From the names and frankly, many other things, I have no doubt you had all already worked out I was of noble birth. My family is the ruling family of Whitestone, a town north of Vasselheim. Or rather, we were the ruling family.” Percival paused, opening and closing his mouth a couple of times with no noise coming out, before lowering his head and taking a few deep breaths.

“It was five years ago now. My parents were very hospitable people, and one night, they gave shelter to a couple called the Briarwoods, and their travelling companion, a Dr Anna Ripley. Lord and Lady Briarwood were elegant and refined, everything I was taught nobility should be. We threw a feast for them, with my whole family in attendance, and that’s when they attacked.”

Percival’s eyes were distant as he raised his head to look at the assembled crew again. “Lady Briarwood is some kind of powerful necromancer, she summoned… horrible things to aid in the slaughter. And Lord Briarwood… for all his appearence of humanity, he is something else entirely. They killed my parents, my older brother Julius and my older sister Vesper straight away, but imprisoned the rest of us. I had already gained some small reputation as a tinkerer and engineer, and so they gave me to Ripley, for her to _play with_. I was eighteen.”

Percival was wringing his hands now, and Keyleth could see that he had started trembling again, fine tremors travelling through his body causing his hands to start visibly shaking again as he spoke about the horrors that had befallen his family. “I was kept apart from my younger siblings and so I am less sure of how they met their end. I know that the Briarwoods attempted to use first Oliver and then Ludwig as figureheads so that the people of Whitestone wouldn’t know that the de Rolos were no longer in charge, but they must have refused or fought back, because it didn’t last.”

Tears now filled Percival’s eyes as he continued. “My sister Whitney, one of the Briarwoods’ generals took a _liking_ to her, and so in much the same way I was given to Ripley, she was given to him. I don’t know what he did to her, just that she didn’t last six months.” Percival’s voice shook. “I had already started planning to try and get us out, but it started to seem more and more impossible.”

“How did you do it?” Vex interrupted, the first time any of them had spoken since Percival had started his whole sorry story.

Percival’s mouth twisted. “Luck. And money. For years I didn’t see my siblings, and one by one I heard that they were gone, killed by the Briarwoods or their lackeys. Finally, one day I caught a glimpse of Cassandra. She looked so strange, so pale and almost like one of the dead creatures Lady Briarwood commanded, that I knew I had to try, even if I killed us both. Death was better than the existence we were suffering. A underground resistance group contacted me, said she was in danger; that the Briarwoods trying to make her ‘one of them’, whatever that meant. They gave a drug that mimicked death, and after we were dumped in a ditch to rot, they rescued us and gave us the antidote. I woke up; Cassandra didn’t. We had to run, but she needed a healer. I just did the best I could.”

“And the wanted poster?” Vax asked.

Percival shrugged. “The reward has been put up by the Briarwoods, correct?” Vax nodded. “Then they’ve found out that we’re not dead, and they want us back. The charges, well, it’ll be easy enough to put their own crimes on me, and I am travelling with a young girl and a lot of gold. You all believed it. They’ll ask for me to be transported back to Whitestone to ‘face justice’, and then I’ll be right back where I started. And so will Cassandra, if they don’t decide she’s too much trouble and kill her.”

Scanlan raised his eyebrows. “That’s some story. Makes my reason for travelling to Emon sort of boring.”

“Never mind that.” Grog interrupted. “What are we going to do with these two? Way I see it, they could bring a whole load of trouble on us. Trouble we don’t need, Pikey, especially not now.”

“He’s not wrong.” Vax agreed, and then glared as everyone turned to stare at him. “What? Grog and I can agree on some things. I’m not saying that Percival’s story isn’t awful and sad, just that… we’ve got to look out for our own people.”

“Keyleth?” asked Pike. “Have you got an opinion on this?”

Keyleth looked at Percival, still standing in front of them all as if he was a prisoner waiting to be judged, and whilst that might have been an apt comparison, Keyleth didn’t like how that made her feel like an executioner waiting to bring down her blade. “We can’t just abandon them.”

“No,” Pike agreed. “We can’t. But the boys aren’t wrong; if they stay, they present an overwhelming danger to the rest of us.”

There was a silence for a few minutes, before Percival cleared his throat and said. “May I suggest something? Two things have occurred to me.”

Pike nodded. “Go on.”

“The first is that you don’t have an engineer aboard this ship. What do you do if some vital part of the ship breaks?”

“Pray that it’s not broken so badly it cripples us, and head to the nearest port. What’s the second thing?”

“That I am extremely clever, and very good at engineering and tinkering. I can make or invent almost anything, provided I am given the materials. I am also much safer on a ship that never stops moving than I am in any single city, no matter how big.” 

Pike narrowed her eyes at him. “What are you proposing?”

“That in exchange for you sheltering me and my sister, I will work on your ship for no pay, and be your engineer and your inventor.”

Pike thought about it, looking between Percival and the rest of her crew. Keyleth, for her part, was sure she looked very anxious. She thought it was the perfect solution, and honestly, Percival fascinated her. If he was to stick around, she would like to get to know him better.

After a few minutes, Pike stuck her hand out and said. “Deal.”

Percival smiled for the first time since the wanted poster had been seen and shook her hand.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been maybe three hours since they had been locked up. Keyleth, exhausted from the magic she had expended on the job Percy had suggested, had fallen asleep, and Percy was left to his own thoughts, mostly focusing on the job and how it had gone wrong and how it was his fault.

Keyleth meant well, but she was his best friend, of course she would be kind to him. But Percy had got her locked up, and all out of his own sense of pride. A couple of more hours passed, and Percy heard the second bell ring before Keyleth stirred and called out. “Percy?”

“Hey, Keyleth.”

He heard her sit up in the cell next to his, and her voice sounded a little clearer as she asked. “Have you slept at all?”

He shook his head, remembered that she couldn’t see him, and clarified out loud. “No, I haven’t. I haven’t been tired.”

“You need to sleep, Percy! You’ll need your energy when Pike comes to get us.”

Percy shrugged. “I know.”

Something in his voice must have tipped Keyleth off about something being wrong, because she said gently. “I’m sorry we didn’t manage to destroy those guns. That’s what you’re thinking about, right?”

“A bit,” Percy replied, not really wanting to get into the never-ending circle of regret and guilt and self-loathing that his brain had generated whilst he had no distraction other than the guards that occasionally walked past and made snide comments about Percy or gross comments about Keyleth.

“You tried, Percy! That’s more than anyone else did!”

“I’m the reason those guns exist in the first place,” Percy replied, the loathing clear in his voice. “I at least should be the one to try and take them back out of the world. If the one I carried wasn’t so effective at protecting the people I love, I’d have destroyed it already.”

“Percy….” Keyleth started, her voice soft and sympathetic, but Percy interrupted her. “It’s okay, Keyleth. At least we’re alive.”

“Yeah!” Keyleth agreed. “And when Pike comes to get us, we’ll be able to give destroying those guns another go.”

“Oh no,” Percy replied immediately. “If I try again, it will actually be on my own.”

“Percy, if you’d been on your own, you would never have found about any of this in the first place. There’s value in having allies. Remember?” 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was early evening, and the seventh bell had just gone, but the sun was still bright, signalling that the long days of the summer months were upon them. It also made it less suspicious that a large group of people were descending on one shop long after it had closed business for the day. In the darker months, it would only be two or three of them, but all of the crew were very fond of Gilmore, and as they could swing it, all of them wanted to see him.

Keyleth was walking at the back with Scanlan and Percy, both of whom would be meeting Gilmore for the first time, despite the ship having been in Emon before, but they had heard plenty of stories from the rest of the crew. Up at the front were Vax, Grog and Pike, Grog carrying Pike on his shoulder, as well as their Bag of Holding, which was a very effective way of transporting large amounts of stolen goods across Emon. Vax knocked on the door, a special four tone knock repeated twice, letting Gilmore know that this wasn’t a regular visit and after a few beats, the door opened and Gilmore stood there, glorious as ever, a bright beaming smile on his face.

“My friends! Welcome back!”

He stepped back from the door and ushered them all inside. Keyleth walked in last, and smiled to herself as she noticed that Vax was already by Gilmore’s side, smiling more than Keyleth ever saw him smile on the ship, and that Gilmore already had an arm around Vax’s waist. They were kind of adorable, but never too public with their affection when the rest of the crew was around, who liked to tease both of them mercilessly.

Gilmore waved his free hand towards a table set towards the side of the room and said. “Show me what you’ve got then, Captain Pike.”

Pike nodded, and gestured to Grog to start emptying the Bag of Holding. As Grog began to do so, supervised by Vex, who clearly didn’t trust him to treat the items with the care she thought they deserved, Gilmore looked over at where Percy and Scanlan were standing and said. “Seems there’s a few new faces here.”

Keyleth took it upon herself to introduce them, pointing first at Scanlan and saying. “That’s Scanlan Shorthalt, he’s a bard.”

“A bard?” Gilmore interrupted, his face surprised. “What do you need a bard for, Pike?”

Pike sighed deeply, but had an expression of mischief on her face as she replied. “You know, I have no idea.”

“Excuse me,” Scanlan joined in, pretending to be affronted. “I am not just a bard, I’ll have you know. I am a bard extraordinaire and the reason I’m on the ship is that I refuse to be away from the love of my life and the most beautiful woman I have ever seen, Pike.”

Gilmore threw a quizzical look at Pike. “How’s that going for you?”

Pike shrugged. “He follows me around like a puppy and occasionally composes a song for me. It could be worse.”

Gilmore seemed to think about that a bit, before nodding. Keyleth carried on from where she had left off and pointed to Percy and Cassandra, standing back a bit as was their habit now when meeting new people, saying. “This is Percy and Cass. Percy’s our ship’s engineer and Cass is his sister.”

Gilmore looked over at Percy, standing protectively next to Cassandra, and tilted his head a bit before asking speculatively. “Vax?”

“Yes, Shaun?”

“When was the last time you received an update from your contacts? In any city?”

Vax rolled his eyes a little, but smiled as he replied. “I can guess what you’re driving at. We know who he is, that’s why he’s being introduced as Percy, as opposed to that great long name he carries. Anyway, that wanted poster is a pack of lies.”

Gilmore nodded slowly. “The reward isn’t.”

Percy tensed visibly, but none of the others did, and when Vax replied, Percy realised he had caught the wrong end of the stick. “No, you’re right, that’s why we’re being careful about who sees him and Cassandra. But Cass was getting restless, stuck on the ship, and we figured this was the safest place off the ship that we could take them.”

Gilmore smiled slightly and murmured. “You’ll have to tell me all about it later. It sounds like quite a story.”

Vax smiled back and they looked at each other until Vex made an exaggerated gagging noise in the background. They looked away from each other and Vax flipped his twin off as Gilmore smiled indulgently before moving over to the table to inspect their goods. He hummed to himself, picked up a couple of the more attractive pieces, flipped through a few books before taking a step back and saying. “The books I’ll take, along with the magical items you’ve got in there, as well as some of the more valuable jewels and some of the more restricted ingredients.”

Pike nodded. “I’ll let you discuss price with Vex. Grog, if you’ll put everything Gilmore doesn’t want back into the Bag of Holding, please. Percy, help him please. Vax, I assume you’re staying here?”

Percy moved to help as Vax nodded. “Yeah, unless you need me back on the ship?”

Pike shook her head. “Don’t be silly, Vax, we’re in Emon rarely enough as it is. Spend some time with your boyfriend. We’re planning on moving on in five days, see you then.”

Gilmore started to haggle with Vex and Percy listened with one ear as he helped Grog load up the Bag of Holding. Vex and Gilmore were clearly very fond of each other, because Percy had listened to Vex haggle before, and whilst Vex was still not giving an inch, she lacked the predatory glint in her eye that she usually got when gold was on the line.

As Percy moved around them to start heading back, Gilmore broke from his haggling to ask. “Is that one of those new weapons? How did you get a hold of that? I thought they weren’t meant to be available for another week.” 

Percy frowned, not sure what Gilmore could mean, before a thought occurred to him that made his blood run cold and he grabbed his gun that was strapped to his hip and held it up, saying. “Do you mean this?”

Gilmore nodded, clearly a bit confused at Percy’s sudden intensity. “Yes, that. It’s a ‘gun’, isn’t it?”

“It is, and I made it. What do you mean, they’re going to be available next week?”

Gilmore’s frown deepened. “You made it? There’s meant to be only one person who can make them, and she’s based out of a town called Whitestone. As for them being available, there’s a ship heading here with a whole cargo of them, ready to be sold.”

Percy went pale, gripping his gun tightly. “When will they be here?”

“Three days. Is everything okay?”

Percy nodded jerkily, and turned on his heel abruptly, following Grog and Pike out of the shop, only just aware enough to make sure his sister was with him. Keyleth followed him out and slipped her hand into the crook of Percy’s arm. She didn’t say anything, just watched Percy’s face as they made their way back to the ship. In the six months Percy had been on the ship, Keyleth had witnessed him do this a couple of times, retreat into his own head because something had triggered the memories of the time he had spent held captive and tortured by the Briarwoods. There was nothing she could do but keep a hand on his body and keep him grounded.

As they walked, Cassandra kept casting worried looks at her brother as well, but made no move to come over and try and comfort him. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to help, but Keyleth knew that the one thing Percy had ruled was that Cass wasn’t to put herself through seeing her brother like this. Cassandra’s memories of her time as a prisoner of the Briarwoods were patchy and blurry, her trauma crouching silently in the back of her head waiting to knock her for six. Percy, for better or for worse, had far clearer memories of what he had suffered.

Once back on the ship, Percy gently removed Keyleth’s hand from his arm and slipped away. Nobody saw him again for the rest of the day, until it was time for dinner and he showed up looking, if possible, worse than he had done in Gilmore’s shop. Keyleth made a point of chattering away, keeping up a light, pointless commentary about anything she could think of.

As Vex got up to start clearing away the remains of dinner (after several arguments that had ended in blood, Pike had made a rota, whilst all the time scolding them for being a bunch of five-year-olds), Percy also stood and said. “Wait a moment, please, Vex. There’s something I’d like to put to you all.”

Vex frowned at him, but did as she was asked, settling back into her chair and waiting. Percy took a deep breath and said. “I’d like to hire you all for a job.”

There was a beat of silence, before everybody started talking at once. Percy waited for a couple of minutes to let them get it out of their system, before waving his arms to get their attention and yelling. “Just let me explain!”

There was various muttering as the crew of _Little Sunbird_ settled back down again, but Percy spoke over them all in a calm, clear voice. “The existence of this stock of guns is my fault. I should never have invented them, and whilst the weapon has served me well, I dread the idea of these weapons in the hands of people less scrupulous than I am. I’m proposing that I pay you to fly the ship out to meet this ship carrying the guns, I sneak on board and destroy the cargo.”

Pike raised her eyebrows. “You think you can sneak on board and destroy the guns alone?”

“I’m not putting any of you in danger for something that is my problem to deal with.”

“Tough,” Keyleth interrupted. “I’m coming with you.”

“No, you’re not.”

Keyleth sighed at him. “I’m not your sister. You can’t tell me what to do. Even if Pike says no, I know you’re going to do it anyway, and I’m coming with you. You’ll need me.”

Percy looked over at Pike pleadingly. “Captain?”

Pike grinned. “You’re right, you’re not putting us in danger for something that’s your problem. Which means we need to not get caught, so Keyleth’s going with you. No arguments, Percy. How much are you proposing to pay us?”

“Half of what I have left of the gold I took from Whitestone.”

“Which is?”

“2,500.”

Vex leaned forward at that and said fervently. “Oh Gods, Pike, say yes! Do you know how pretty we can make this ship with that money.”

Pike shrugged and smiled. “I guess that’s a yes, then. Though you know it would be easier to just destroy the ship than just its cargo.”

“I know,” Percy replied. “But those could be people of Whitestone. I’m not killing innocents.”

Pike shrugged. “Fair enough.”

Percy sat back down and blew out a breath. “Right well, I need to work on some explosives in order to break in, and make sure my tools are all in order so I can break the guns. Gilmore seemed to know about the ship that was bringing them in. Can someone go and ask him what it’s name was? You’ll need that, right, Vex?”

Vex nodded. “I don’t imagine there’ll be too many ships coming from the direction of Whitestone, but there could easily be more than one. Best not to sabotage the wrong ship. And somebody should tell Vax what we’re up to.” 

Keyleth stood up. “I’ll go. He’ll take it best coming from me.”

“He’s going to want to come along.” Vex sighed.

Keyleth grinned as she walked through the door. “I’m sure Gilmore can persuade him otherwise.”

****

Keyleth came back not more than half an hour later with the name of the ship and a slight blush on her cheeks. Vex took one look at her and laughed. “See a bit more of my brother than you wanted?”

Keyleth shook her head. “No, but as I left, I heard… uh, things. Noises. Happy noises.”

Vex bit her lip, but couldn’t stifle her laughter, and the sound rang through the ship as she made her way to the bridge with the scrap of paper that had the transport ship’s name on it. Keyleth made her way down to the passenger dorms to find Percy. He was in his room, carefully packing his tools into a piece of leather, before rolling it up and attaching it to his belt.

Keyleth knocked on the doorframe and leaned her head against as Percy looked up and smiled. There was silence for a few beats, before Keyleth asked. “You ready?”

Percy nodded. “Are you?”

“It’s not _my_ demons we’re flying towards.”

Percy’s mouth twisted into a wry smile. “Good point. I’ll be fine. I’m looking forward to seeing you do your magic. I don’t think I’ve really ever seen you do anything on this scale.”

Keyleth smiled back. “Well, I hope it works as well as I think it’s going to.” 

Vex had made the executive decision that it would be easier for her to fly out to the ship, rather than wait for it to get closer to Emon, and Percy trusted her to make that decision. There was an ongoing good-natured fight between the twins as to who was the better pilot, but the truth of the matter was that there was not another pair of pilots like them in the whole of Tal’dorei.

They intercepted the ship in a day and a half, Vex cleverly coming at them at a little bit of distance so it didn’t look like they were targeting it. As the crew gathered on the deck on the ship, Percy adjusted his belt of tools and glanced over at Keyleth, saying. “Are you ready?”

Keyleth laid out her troughs of earth and nodded, but didn’t smile, her face a mask of concentration .She buried her hands in the earth and suddenly two strong, thick vines burst out of the earth. One of them wrapped itself around Percy’s waist, and the other wrapped itself around Keyleth. 

Pike walked forward and tapped Percy’s arm to get his attention as she said. “Once you’re on board, be careful and keep your head down. We’re going to take the ship and circle around so they don’t get suspicious. Be done in a hour, that’s when we’ll back. Good luck.”

Percy nodded, looked up, and felt the vine around his waist tighten and lift and saw the ship’s deck rapidly fall away from him as Keyleth lifted him. She set them down on the other ship’s deck, using her gift with air to soften their landing so that there was practically no sound. Keyleth banished her vines and a few minutes later they saw _Little Sunbird_ fly away. There were no people on deck, no watch to speak of at least on the uppermost level and so Percy and Keyleth crept forward to the hatch they could see, with at least four locks on it.

Percy nudged her and smiled, nodding to indicate her hands. “Off you go.”

Keyleth grinned, despite the tense situation and lit her hands on fire. Percy watched with awe as she reached forward and took the metal locks into her hands, melting it with her touch and not even scorching the wood around it. One by one they softened enough so that Keyleth could simply pull the metal apart. Once she had done the fourth lock, Percy reached down and carefully lifted the hatch, waving Keyleth ahead of him, as she was the one carrying the light and followed her.

Down two flights of stairs and through another locked door got them to them the cargo area, and Percy nearly walked into Keyleth’s back as she stopped suddenly and whispered. “Percy. We might have a problem. There are a _lot_ of crates.”

Percy came to stand beside her and sighed. The cargo area was piled high with crates and there were no marks on them at all, nothing to indicate what was in them at all. Percy thought for a bit, before fiddling with his tool belt and handing Keyleth a tool and a bag and saying. “Use the tool to drill a hole in a crate. If there are guns inside, pour a little of the power inside. Try to ration it, there’s no harm in there being some left over.”

They got to work, but Keyleth kept glancing over to where Percy was industriously working. He had been grim-faced ever since they had found out about the existence of the ship, but he was looking especially unapproachable right now, his whole focus on drilling holes and pouring powder, his face pale and streaked with black powder.

“Percy….”

“I’m fine, Keyleth. Just keep going.”

Keyleth wasn’t sure how long they had been at it, when suddenly she heard the sound of footsteps and voices and she hissed. “Percy! Put the light out, I can hear people!”

Percy reached up and moved the light, but it was too late. Outside, Keyleth heard. “Hey, is there a light in the cargo area? I could swear I just saw one.”

A couple of more footsteps, and more voices. “The lock’s been broken. Quick, sound the alarm!”

“Shit!” Percy swore. “Keyleth, hide. Get ready to fight!”

Keyleth crouched behind the nearest crate and so did Percy, just before the door swung open and two men, one of whom were holding a torch, stepped inside. The one holding the torch swung it at the nearest crate and said. “There’s a hole been made in this. Someone’s definitely been here.”

The other replied. “Better find out if they’re still here. Ripley will kill us if this shipment doesn’t make it to Emon.”

The two of them split up and began to search amongst the crates. Keyleth curled herself up as tightly as she could. It wouldn’t stop them finding her, but hopefully it would surprise them enough that she could take them off guard.

As one of them rounded the crate she was hiding behind and started to shout. “Hey, there’s -” before Keyleth cut him off, using a spell that knocked him out but didn’t kill him. The other one turned at the sound of his companion’s body hitting the floor and Percy took that opportunity to jump out of hiding and use the butt of his gun to knock the guy over the head and drop him as well.

Keyleth reached for Percy’s hand and found it already outstretched for her. She held on tightly as they peered around the door, and seeing no-one, ran for the stairs. They were nearing the top, Percy ahead of Keyleth simply because that was how it had worked out, when the hatch they had originally gone through opened, and before Percy could react, a heavy club came down on his head.

Keyleth screamed as Percy’s limp body fell, knocking her back down as well. She had just enough time to confirm he was, in fact, still alive, before strong hands forced a rag over her mouth and the black overtook her vision.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had maybe been a full day since they had been locked up. They’d been given no food and little water, but both their cells had a small barred window out of which they could see the sky and hear the timekeeping bells, so guessing the time wasn’t too hard. The guards had started to come down hard on them talking to each other, so Percy and Keyleth had taken to just knocking on their shared wall whenever one of them started to feel lonely or claustrophobic and the other would knock back.

When she could talk, Keyleth would still continue to insist that Pike would come for both of them, but privately, Percy was wondering how she was going to manage it. It would draw a lot of attention, and the ship relied on being under the radar. He hadn’t been convinced from the start that Pike would come for him anyway, but he could live with that. If Keyleth was free and she could look after Cassandra, Percy would take whatever punishment they could think of.

Suddenly, he heard shouts and yelling coming from where the guards normally spent their time when not patrolling through the cells. He heard Keyleth’s voice over the noise, saying. “Percy? Can you hear what’s going on?”

“No!” He called back. “But something’s got them riled up!”

More shouts, and then Percy and Keyleth simultaneously dropped to the ground with their hands over their ears as a massive explosion rocked the prison and sent a shockwave of sound and dust through the cells. Coughing and blinking, the two of them struggling upright in time to hear a very familiar voice yell. “Told you it would work!!”

Keyleth laughed with joy. “That’s Scanlan! Hey, Scanlan! Scanlan!”

Percy joined in, his fears temporarily forgotten as he was caught up with Keyleth’s excitement. “Scanlan, Scanlan!”

After a few minutes, Scanlan wandered over and said casually. “Oh there you are. What are you doing here? Honestly, we leave you two crazy kids alone for two minutes, and you get yourselves arrested. Lucky we’re around.”

“Who’s we?”

“Hey, Kiki.”

Keyleth grinned. “Vax!”

Vax smiled at them both as he knelt down in front of Keyleth’s cell to get at the lock. He carefully began to pick it as he said. “We’ve got to stop meeting like this, Kiki. How do you always end up in prison?”

“I’m very earnest.”

“And prone to following idiots with half thought out plans.” Vax added, nodding towards Percy, as the lock clicked and the padlock fell open with a thunk. “Grog’s holding off the guards whilst we do this, Kiki, do you want to go and check on him? He’s probably fine, but just in case.”

Keyleth nodded and walked off. Vax knelt in front of Percy’s lock and began to pick it, saying as he did so. “Shaun said to tell you that you owe us a date.”

Percy acknowledged that with a nod. “All right then.”

The lock clicked and the padlock thunked off in much the same way as Keyleth’s had done. Percy stepped out, a little bit stunned at walking out of the cell. Vax looked at him a little sympathetically, but didn’t say anything. Scanlan, on the other hand, started whistling, breaking only to say. “Don’t forget to get your gun back, Percy. Don’t want to leave that lying around.”

Percy made his way forward, quickly darting into a room to grab his gun, and the three of them met up with Grog and Keyleth. Grog was standing in front of a door, wielding a massive sword and blocking every single attempt to get through. He wasn’t killing anyone, but several of the more unfortunate guards had lost hands.

“Got them?” Grog yelled.

“Yes!” Vax yelled back. “Let’s get out of here!”

The reason for the massive explosion was revealed, a large hole in the side of the prison, the side that led out to nothing but land. As Percy and Keyleth were pushed out, they came face to face with a rope ladder, that led up to the wonderfully familiar sight of _Little Sunbird_ hovering in the air above them. Pike peered down from the top and waved, yelling something that was lost to the wind and next to her, a sight that nearly made Percy start crying there and then, his sister Cassandra right next to her.

Percy insisted that Keyleth go up the ladder first, and glanced behind him to check if the others were following. Vax was right behind him, and Scanlan behind him, but Grog was nowhere to be seen. Vax caught Percy’s glance and shouted. “Don’t worry about Grog! He knows what to do.”

The ship was getting higher, and despite Vax’s words, Percy couldn’t help but wonder what he was going to do, when, with a yell, Grog came running through the hole had been blown in the wall and made a massive leap for the ladder, catching it with his hands and beginning to haul himself up. The guards followed him, but almost to a person, they were human and couldn’t make the leap that Grog had. They were safe.

As Keyleth got over the edge of the ship, Pike swept her into a hug and Cassandra did the same as Percy got over the edge. Vax climbed over and immediately vanished, presumingly going to find his sister. Scanlan and Grog both joined in on the hug with Pike and Keyleth. They all just hugged on the deck of the ship, and Percy felt himself finally relax.

It was a few hours later, with Emon behind them, that Percy found himself back out on deck, leaning on the railings and looking out across the sky. He sensed someone come up behind him, but didn’t know who it was until they spoke.

“Hey, Percy.”

He looked down and smiled. “Hello Pike.”

“You alright? I mean, I won’t say it’s not like you to be brooding alone, because it is, but we did just pull off something amazing. Even you can appreciate that, right?”

Percy nodded. “I’m okay. It’s just… while I was in that cell, I was sure that I would be staying there for the foreseeable future. I didn’t doubt that you would come to the prison. I doubted that you would be coming for _me_.”

There was silence for a few beats, before Pike sighed and replied. “I’ll say this once, Percy. Notwithstanding the fact that if I had come for Keyleth and left you there, your sister would definitely have taken one of your guns and made us come back for you, we were _always_ coming for you.”

“But why?”

“Because you are _part of my crew_ , Percy.” Pike said emphatically. “Do you understand me? You are part of my crew, and we will always come for you, even, and perhaps especially, when you pull a dumb stunt that you think is clever.”

“Yes, Captain.” Percy replied around the lump in his throat. “I understand.”

“Good.” Pike smiled, and leaned on the rail next to Percy. Again, silence fell, but it was the kind of silence that was expecting to be broken and Percy could almost sense that Pike was waiting for him to talk, because there was one obvious outstanding problem.

“You’re right about dumb ideas. I didn’t even manage to do what I set out to do.”

Pike laughed this time. “What do you think took us so long? When we realised you’d been caught, we followed the ship back to Emon, created a distraction to get everyone off the ship and set a flame to all that black powder you’d carelessly left lying around in their cargo area.”

Percy’s breath caught in his throat. “Really?”

“Of course. I mean, the ship sort of went up with the guns, but nobody was onboard so we figured you wouldn’t mind so much about that.”

“No, no, I don’t mind, but by the Gods, Pike. Thank you. _Thank you_.”

Pike shrugged. “That’s okay.”

Percy moved back to leaning against the rail next to Pike and thought out loud. “She’ll try again. There’s no way she won’t.”

“Then we’ll find out, and you’ll destroy them.” Pike said calmly. “You have help now, Percy.”

Percy nodded. Impossible as it sounded, he had found his place here on this ship, in the company of thieves and criminals and pirates. He loved them, and somehow, they loved him back. For the first time in what seemed like forever, Percy had found a home again, and this time, he would fight to keep it.


End file.
